Eraser



- UNITED STATES l RUEL SMITH, OF BANGOR, MAINE.

ERASER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 57,004, dated August 7, 1866.

To allwhom it may concern.:

Beit known that I, RUEL SMITH, of Bangor, Penobscot county, State of Maine, have invented or produced a new article of manufacture, which I have denominated as the Book- Keepers Eraser and Burnisher, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full description of the same.

The object of my invention is to place in the hands of a book-keeper or copyist an instrument which combines the twofold properties of aneraser and burnisher. Every writer at one time or another has experienced the misfortune of committing an error in copying or making' original entries which required an erasure to amend or correct, but in doing so,

for want of the proper instrument for burnishing or hardening the surface of the paper before writing over it, has so blurred or blotted the teXt as to be almost illegible. It is, therefore, to overcome this difliculty as far as practicable that constitutes the object of my invention 5 and the nature of my invention of the new article of manufacture consists in making a knife-point with a thick, rounded, and polished back, in combination with a ferrule or other device for attaching to a penholder or other handle suitable for such purposes; but to describe my invention more particularly, I will refer to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, the same letters of reference wherever they occur referring to like parts.

Figure l is aperspective view of the instrument. Fig. 2 is a transverse cut section of the eraser and burnisher.

Letter a is a `representation of the blade, which is mads of a lance shape, and is united at its neck to an elastic ferrule, b, forming a part of the same piece of metal from which the instrument is made. It will be obvious, however, that the blade and ferrule may be made of separate pieces of metal, and that the ferrule may be dispensed with entirely by making the shank ofthe blade to t into any cleft in a handle or holder. As a rule I prefer making them with an elastic ferrule, as being y best adapted to fit the ordinary pen-holder, which is always at the command of the writer when, perhaps, a specially-made handle to fit the shank of the blade (when made in that way) might not be at hand; but as such a variety of the eraser and burnisher may be deemed desirable by some, I desire it to be understood that my invention is not for the method of securing the eraser and burnisher to a handle, but is for the eraser and burnisher, and therefore intend to use either mode of securing it to a handle.

Letter c is the erasing or cuttingl edge of the instrument, and d is the burnishing or polishing back of it.

It will be observed that the back is carried down its full thickness, or nearly so, to the point of the instrument, and that the grinding or sharpening of the eraser will not affect it or destroy its peculiar properties.

Having now described my invention of a new article of manufacture, I will proceed to set forth what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesy The new article of manufacture of a bookkeepers eraser and burnisher, made and operating as hereinbefore set forth.

` RUEL SMITH.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL S. Smrn, Jomv E. GODFREY. 

